Pacific reaching out to students who could be affected by immigration order

Tuesday

Jan 31, 2017 at 6:08 PM

Almendra Carpizo Record Staff Writer @AlmendraCarpizo

When news of President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily banning nationals from seven majority-Muslim countries came down, universities across the country scrambled to find students, staff or programs that could be affected.

At University of the Pacific, it was no different.

Rhonda Bryant, associate vice president for student life and dean of students at Pacific, said administrators began working to identify anyone impacted as soon as the executive order was signed.

Trump’s order bars entry into the U.S. for people native to Iraq, Syria, Libya, Iran, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen for 90 days. It also addresses refugees from across the world and Syria.

“I hereby proclaim that the entry of nationals of Syria as refugees is detrimental to the interests of the United States and thus suspend any such entry until such time as I have determined that sufficient changes have been made to the USRAP to ensure that admission of Syrian refugees is consistent with the national interest,” reads the executive order.

Three hundred people are studying at Pacific’s three Northern California campuses through student visas, but the school said it is difficult to say how many students are directly affected by the executive order because there are still uncertainties.

It can be between one to seven students, according to Pacific.

Bryant said it’s hard to determine because of confusion pertaining to permanent residents, which was an issue widely reported when news of green card holders being detained at airports spread over the weekend.

Still, she said, it is “safe to say that all colleges are affected in one way or another.”

“Pacific is committed to its students, faculty and staff,” she said. “We work really hard and are committed to inclusion and diversity and the well-being of our students.”

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll of 1,201 people, including 453 Democrats and 478 Republicans in 50 states, 49 percent agreed with the executive order and 41 percent disagreed.

Among those in favor of the order is Republican Rep. Tom McClintock, whose district includes Calaveras County.

“I strongly support President Trump’s executive order on refugees,” he said in a statement. “There is no unconditional right to enter the United States, and the President has a sworn responsibility to assure that those entering our country are not hostile to our Constitution, our people, or the rule of law. The order is limited to countries that are hot-beds of Islamic extremism and provides for case-by-case waivers to assure that bona fide dissenters from these regimes can enter. This is a temporary stop-gap to give the administration time to put a new vetting system in place that can adequately assess the veracity of a refugee’s claims and his intentions.”

The breadth of the executive action and timing was a surprise, said Blake Nordahl, associate professor and supervising attorney for Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law Immigration Clinic.

Nordahl and the Immigration Clinic were contacted on Saturday by a U.S. citizen who had petitioned for her father, who is in Sudan. The case was approved and he was granted a visa, but on Saturday, while waiting to fly to the U.S., he was ordered off the plane, Nordahl said.

He said the clinic reached out to the staffs of Sens. Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein to figure out what to do next, but there is still much to figure out.

The feeling is that this is just the beginning of a difficult road in regards to immigration, Nordahl said, adding that it’s been positive to see the public condemnation over the order and its impact.

Patrick Piggott, dean of the Humphreys College Laurence Drivon School of Law, said terrorists won’t be found through this executive order and said the government is not being honest with the public.

“This is the politics of fear,” he said.

There are green card holders, who have the same rights as citizens but aren’t allowed to vote, who were suddenly lumped up with terrorists, Piggott said. Now, people with dual citizenship who have citizenship in one of those seven countries can also be stopped.

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, during an interview with “Meet the Press,” said: “As far as green card holders moving forward, it doesn’t affect them, but here’s the deal, if you’re coming in and out of one of those seven countries — by the way, identified by the Obama administration as the seven most dangerous countries in the world in regard to harboring terrorists and affirmed by Congress multiple times — then you’re going to be subjected temporarily with more questioning until a better program is put in place over the next several months.”